THYROID DOCTOR-NURSE TEAM EXPOSES FLUORIDE RISK

Pre-publication review of Thyroid Power by Richard Shames MD &
Karilee Shames RN, PhD has resulted in advance praise from physicians, nurses,
and other health professionals. According to John Lee, MD, author of the
very popular book What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause, the new
HarperCollins book, THYROID POWER: Ten Steps to Total Health (HarperResource;
June 2001; $25) is "the best book ever written on the subject of thyroid".
Seth Baum, MD, Medical Director of the John Henry Center for Integrative
Medicine in Boca Raton, Florida, says "the book is a must-read for physicians
and lay public alike".

Dr. Richard Shames, a Harvard and University of Pennsylvania
graduate who served at the NIH, believes that we are witnessing an autoimmune
low-thyroid epidemic. Doctors on the Thyroid Unit at Columbia Presbyterian
Medical Center in NYC have revealed that 20 million Americans are currently
being treated for thyroid problems. Synthroid, just one of the various
thyroid medicines, is now either first or second most-prescribed drug in the US.
The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center estimates that there are over
13 million more Americans who have undiagnosed thyroid problems that are causing
many of their uncomfortable symptoms (fatigue, depression, excess weight,
infertility, miscarriage, severe menopause, dry skin, constipation, hair
loss).

Karilee Shames, RN, PhD, Assistant Professor of Nursing, points
out that a major environmental trigger of low thyroid is likely to be the
fluoride added to municipal water supplies. Scientists believe that fluoride can
depress thyroid functions with levels as low as 2.5 mg/day, even though
(according to a 1991 government report estimates that) adults in fluoridated
areas ingest an average of 3.9 mg daily.

Drs. Richard and Karilee Shames suggest that in a misguided
attempt to help curb cavities in young children, we may be unwittingly poisoning
our collective endocrine systems. In fact, the Shames are quick to point out,
there really is no solid research on the long-term effects of fluoride on the
human body, even though it has been used for over fifty years. Equally
disturbing is the current substitution of an industrial silicofluroide waste
product in place of the original pharmaceutical grade of sodium fluoride,
without proper research.

Though fluoride has been added to water supplies for over 50
years, new studies in the US and New Zealand are questioning fluoride's
benefits. In addition to questioning fluoride's benefits, other research reveals
potential hazards that have been minimized or ignored. In 1997, 1500
scientists, engineers, and lawyers of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
joined in the release of a cautionary statement regarding fluoride: "Our
members' review of the body of evidence over the last eleven years, including
animal and human epidemiological studies, indicates a causal link between
fluoride/fluoridation and cancer, genetic damage, neurological impairment, and
bone pathology."

According to the Shames', with mounting evidence of a
fluoride-thyroid connection, these cautions now need to be taken more seriously.
Thyroid Power cites dozens of studies to back up this point. The book also tells
us that despite a perplexing push for even more fluoridated communities in this
country, most other countries prohibit the use of this product. Only 2% of
Europe, and less than 5% of the world, fluoridates its water. Sweden, Denmark,
Finland, India, and Japan have either rejected or banned its use in recent
years.

As stated in their book, "fluoridated municipal water is a bad
idea whose time has passed". Read Thyroid Power to find out more about their
strong stand against a practice considered by many to be completely safe and
effective, in fact, as American as apple pie.